A much changed Bashley side hit by injuries and unavailabilities travelled to Gosport with a very young but eager starting eleven. Gosport won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first on a hot sunny afternoon. Bashley should have had an early wicket when Gosport opener King was dropped in Christian Laurent’s opening over. King made Bashley pay for this miss as he went on score 50 in an opening partnership of 92 with Simon Creal 33.The young Bashley bowlers all bowled well especially thireen year old Toby Mills who bowled eight overs of off spin to take one for 35.Wickets were hard to come by for Bashley as Gosport through Harrop 59 and Taylor 28 continued to accumulate runs. James Edmonds 1 for 31 and fourteen year old Tom Saunders 4 for 54 captured some deserved late wickets as Gosport hit out towards the end of their innings. However the young Bashley bowlers never wilted and Gosport were restricted to 218 for 6 after their 45 overs.After tea the Bashley openers batted cautiously but were then both dismissed as Bashley struggled to 40 for 2 off 14 overs. Graham Pardey and Tom O’Sullivan batted sensibly together for a 70 run partnership and were scoring more freely until O’Sullivan was caught for 46. Soon after Pardey was caught for 44 and the loss of another two quick wickets reduced Bashley to a precarious 139 for 6. Young Tom Saunders however batted confidently and took the attack to the bowlers. Well supported by James Edmonds he survived a couple of missed chances and then started to score freely. With a mixture of well struck boundaries and quick running between the wickets he brought Bashley close to an unlikely victory. He was eventually stumped for an excellent 67 in the final over to leave Gosport winners by just 4 runs in an exciting finish to a well contested match.